The Hepworth Wakefield to be the first beneficiary of the JW Anderson Collections Fund

JW Anderson and The Hepworth Wakefield are pleased to announce that The Hepworth Wakefield is the inaugural recipient of the JW Anderson Collections Fund, conceived by Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of JW Anderson, to support the acquisition of works by museums across the UK. JW Anderson will award a fund of £50,000 annually to a collecting institution to acquire works by artists who are under-represented in UK public art collections.

The first work to be acquired through the fund for The Hepworth Wakefield collection is a large-scale charcoal drawing, The Sentimentality Of Nature, by Jake Grewal (b. 1994). In his intimate drawings and paintings Grewal explores the relationship between queer bodies and the natural world, expressing ‘autobiographical experiences within the language of Romanticism.’

The award of the JW Anderson Collections fund to The Hepworth Wakefield builds on our longstanding relationship with JW Anderson, which began with the 2017 exhibition Disobedient Bodies: JW Anderson Curates The Hepworth Wakefield, curated by Jonathan Anderson.

Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of JW Anderson said:

‘I’ve always loved visiting collections in the UK and draw a huge amount of inspiration from them. They are the heart of any institution and make each museum unique. As funding to build these collections in the UK becomes increasingly limited, I wanted to find a way to make sure museums can continue to grow, in particular by looking at the work of emerging artists or those who aren’t well represented in collections across the country.’

Simon Wallis, Director at The Hepworth Wakefield said:

‘We are delighted to be the beneficiary of the first JW Anderson Collections Fund. As a public art gallery we rely entirely on philanthropy to be able to continue to strategically develop our collection. Philanthropy enables us to address historical imbalances regarding the diversity of artists represented in the collection and ensures the work we collect is an inspiring and relevant resource for our broad audience. Vital initiatives such as the JW Anderson Collections Fund are very rare and it’s a testament to Jonathan Anderson’s longstanding desire to support and nurture creativity in the UK. We are enormously grateful to him for supporting our work and enabling us to add outstanding new works of art to Wakefield’s collection, one that he became very familiar with in 2016 when he worked with us to curate his critically-acclaimed Disobedient Bodies exhibition.’

Jake Grewal’s The Sentimentality Of Nature will go on display at The Hepworth Wakefield from spring 2023.